UOG Horizons: Knowledge for Life - Homlo’: Health and healing

UOG Horizons: Knowledge for Life - Homlo’: Health and healing

UOG Horizons: Knowledge for Life - Homlo’: Health and healing


6/13/2025

Francine Naputi
Francine M. Naputi, Ph.D. is an assistant professor of health science at the University of Guam's Margaret Perez Hattori-Uchima School of Health.

A few years ago, while I was working for the Kumision I Fino’ CHamoru or the CHamoru Language Commission, we received a request from the University of Guam to help translate the names of the different schools and colleges into Fino’ CHamoru. UOG wanted to put up these beautiful new signs displaying the CHamoru names of buildings throughout campus. Then the Kumision started to translate the building that houses my program, Health Sciences. They went back and forth about how to translate the “School of Health” into Fino’ CHamoru. What word in Fino’ CHamoru can convey what it means to be healthy or to study health? After a couple rounds of debate, the Kumision settled on Faneyåkan put Hinemlo’ which comes from the root word homlo’ or to heal. Using this translation, we see that in the CHamoru mindset, health means healing or the process of trying to heal.

Read the full article at The Guam Daily Post